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22 September 2009

Went to a showing of The Age of Stupid tonight. Not sure what I expected, but I had high hopes. Not only was the movie dispiriting (for an activist) and a huge letdown, but it was stupid.

Forgetting that this is the age of stupid, it uses tactics that will backfire on the majority of the population that needs to see it — because they're too, well, er, um, ah, not altogether with it enough to get the satire.

The movie gets the most important science wrong, quoting the suicidal +2º Celsius target. (Here's why +2ºC is suicidal: Right now we're at 0.8ºC warming ... and several carbon feedbacks are already kicking. Why would we want to aim for more warming than we've already got? Targeting 2ºC as the limit for warming is stupid and suicidal. Our target should be returning to less than 0.8ºC of warming!)

The movie also promotes Contraction and Convergence, which would have been fine if we'd implemented it before getting so far down this path to extinction. C&C is targeting 2065, but if we don't get to zero carbon emissions as rapidly as possible, we're toast — yes, with a generous helping of stupidity spread on top.

I'm sorely disappointed. What a whole lot of marketing, PR and publicity energy wasted. The movie doesn't say anything helpful at all — there was nothing transformative about it. It certainly doesn't attack the evil banks or our grandchildren-eating economy.

However, it does offer the best example ever of how liars flutter their eyelids while lying. If you decide to see this movie, watch for the scene after the county council has turned down a proposal for a wind turbine farm. It's a priceless scene that will be worth the price of admission.

Posted by
GreenHearted

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